Sweet is the Memory of Distant Friends
by FellowLesbian
Summary: When I was younger, dragons were my fairy tales. Most people tell their children stories of princesses being saved by their knight in shining armor, but the Berkians told of dragons. And like all fairy tales, I grew out of them. Most parents know their children don't believe in the fairy tales they tell, but Berkians are different. They were stubborn. No one has ever seen a dragon.
1. Myth or Reality

Myth or Reality

They always spoke of dragons.

When I was younger, dragons were my fairy tales. Most people tell their children stories of princesses being saved by their knight in shining armor, but the Berkians told of dragons. And like all fairy tales, I grew out of them. The only difference is how determined they are to convince us.

Most parents know their children don't believe in the fairy tales they tell, but Berkians are different. Even as we grow closer to adulthood, our parents still tell stories of dragons. They always have so many, enough that even though there's a story told each night it's always new. And though it's interesting, it's not believable. No one has ever seen a dragon. None of the children even believed they existed.

I had it worse than most. I was the daughter of the man who claimed to be the first dragon trainer, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third. My little brother and I lived in a house decorated with drawings of dragons, statues of dragons, everything dragons. It was almost an obsession.

There was one dragon especially that my father loved to talk about. That was his dragon. He claimed that he had tamed the mysterious night fury, shot it down and befriended it when he was younger than I am now. This dragon's name was Toothless. An odd name for a dragon of such great status, but every one spoke of Toothless as if he was a god.

They all knew that the children didn't believe in their tales. It was because of me that they knew, because of the loud confidence I inherited from my mother. I outright told them that I wasn't taking any of the shit they spewed. It was how I obtained such a high rank in the first place.

I was the leader of the youngest Vikings, the chieftain of the new generation. Fitting, I supposed, considering I was the chieftain's daughter, but I had earned my rank. The older Vikings didn't fall under my command, of course, and technically the younger ones didn't either, but they acted as if they did. While the adults didn't listen to me, they at least respected me. I had good luck in the gene pool, with my mother's strength and ability in battle and my father's wits and leadership skills. But that doesn't matter now. What matters now is that I was bored out of my mind.

I heard a loud sigh as someone dropped onto the log beside me. "He's talking about his dragon again, isn't he?"

"When isn't he?" I heard a laugh and turned to the person beside me. Signe was the daughter of Snotlout and another woman from the village by the name of Solveig. She had a fierce and passionate soul and we got along well. "You want to duel in the arena? We'd have it all to ourselves."

"No thanks, Signe," I said. "It's dark. One of us would end up impaled."

"Oh, come on, you're no fun, Siri." I chuckled, punching her lightly on the shoulder. "That's the best part!"

"I'd like to live to see tomorrow," I grinned. "Ask me again in the morning. For now, I'm out of here. This has gotten so old."

"Sure, sure, go off without me." I rolled my eyes, stalking off into the shadows. No one noticed me leave.

It was quiet at night. Not literally, with the chirping of the crickets and the sound of scavenging creatures, but the business wasn't there like it was in the daylight. It was a refreshing feeling from being stacked around a campfire.

The stars were bright in the sky, the moon shining pale light down onto the landscape and illuminating it in a beautiful aura. I sat down against a large trunk, staring up at the patterns and counting up the skylights. I was so absorbed in the beauty that I almost didn't notice the forest go suddenly silent.

I was instantly on edge, legs tensed beneath me to spring into action. The shadows swayed lightly in tune with the breeze, disguising any movement that might be within them. The shadows began to stretch out toward me, reaching out as if to steal me back into the darkness. I grasped the hilt of my knife and prepared to strike. Before I could, two giant, innocent-looking blue eyes opened and peered up at me.

I faltered, looking down at the creature. It stared right back up at me, looking no more menacing than a child. I still kept my guard up. When it tried to step closer I leaped back, yelling "back, beast!"

I felt guilt wash through me as it whimpered, looking down with droopy ears. The creature sat back onto its hind legs, letting two giant wings settle onto the ground beside it. My jaw dropped. This couldn't be real.

The dragon whined again, looking up at me with giant puppy eyes. I felt my heart melt. I put my knife away and sat back down in front of it. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you." It perked up immediately, tail wagging behind it. It bounced, literally _bounced, _over to me, flopping down onto the ground beside me. I felt myself grinning as it nudged my hand.

"You're so trusting," I said, scratching its head. "Why do you trust me so much? I could've killed you then and there." It just crooned back at me. The dragon was so much prettier than I'd been led to believe they were, black with a white underbelly and a small white dot right on its nose. He rolled over onto his back and whined.

"By Thor you are adorable," I said, shifting over to rub his belly. "You're like a dog." He grinned at me with a mouth void of teeth before he sneezed, a puff of blue flame bursting out. He looked at me sheepishly and I burst out laughing.

In the distance, the light of the fire flickered out. I sighed and patted his side. "I need to go back now." He whimpered, getting up to follow after me. "No, you can't come. Stay here. It was nice meeting you." I scratched his chin. "Be careful out there. It's dangerous, even for dragons." I bid him farewell and began my walk back home.

I told no one of the dragon. My parents would be ecstatic and immediately want to go out and find it while the other kids my age would likely think I'd gone insane. Neither were in my favor. I still rolled my eyes at the stories they told but I now knew that they weren't just bat-shit crazy. Their stories actually had truth behind them.

A few days later I decided I was going to go out and try and find him again.

I searched the woodlands as thoroughly as I could with no luck. By the time I finished, evening was coming on. I had to go back, but I went out to the cliffs after darkness had set in.

I sat down on the edge of one of the cliffs, my feet hanging over the side. The moon was bright tonight, illuminating everything below me in silver light. I looked up at the stars, tracing the patterns my father liked to tell me about. I could pick out the bear, the dragon, the eagle, many others that I remembered from my childhood.

The area around me suddenly went dark. I turned to the moon to see that there was no moon, not anymore. It was gone. The sky around it had gone dark as well, as if a large cloud had just covered it up. There were no clouds in the sky tonight. I looked around the sky. There was nothing else out of place. When I looked back, something was diving straight toward me.

It crashed into me, sending us both rolling back. I was reaching for my knife when I noticed that the eyes were familiar, along with the distinct white dot on its nose. I began to laugh.

"Oh, come on, don't scare me like that!" I said, trying to push him off of me. He batted back at me before I slid myself out from under him. He sat back and looked at me with wide eyes.

"You're a little troublemaker, you know that?" I reached out to scratch his neck but he flounced away, dipping down into a familiar pose. I grinned. "You sure you want to play?" He growled and pounced at me.

I rolled out of the way, ducking under his wing and sprinting down the cliff. I could hear him take off, his wings beating before he crashed into me and sent both of us tumbling down the slope.

I laughed as we landed with him on top of me, nose pressed just under my chin. He was back up immediately, bouncing in a circle around me. I sprang to my feet and lunged at him. He swerved out of the way and smacked his tail into my chest. I huffed and turned to playfully glare at him. He grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes. "I can't beat you. You're too fast." He groaned and came to nudge me. "This wouldn't happen if you weren't so tricky." He then pulled back and looked up at me with the most pitiful face I'd ever seen.

"Oh, Thor almighty," I mumbled. "Fine. Come at me, then." I ducked under his paw, driving my shoulder into his side and sending him sprawling out in the grass. I smiled.

What my dad would give to see this.


	2. Thieves

Thieves

I can remember my father telling us of a time before dragons were our friends, a time when they were our enemies instead.

He spoke of a queen that commanded them, forcing them to bring her food. The Red Death, they called her. A monstrous beast. He talked of raids on the village, dragons coming at night to steal their food, burn down their houses, and take away their children.

Perhaps not burning down houses, but dragons were dirty little thieves.

"The hell?" I muttered, turning in a circle as I looked for the boar I'd shot down not ten seconds ago. A small splatter of blood stained the ground from where I'd killed it, but the corpse was gone. I hadn't seen anything.

"Magical fucking pig, of course it's gone," I scowled, kicking a bush. "My rotten luck never gets me anything."

I heard crooning laughter coming from behind me. Turning around, there was nothing in sight. The forest rustled to my right but again, the spot was empty.

"Show yourself, you coward!" I shouted, spinning around as I looked for whatever trickster thought it was funny to steal my dinner. "Face me like a Viking!"

A loud _thump _came from behind me and I turned around to see a familiar dragon sitting innocently in the exact spot where I'd killed the pig. Bits and pieces of red around his mouth was enough proof for me.

I pointed an accusing finger at him. "You stole my pig."

He cocked his head innocently.

The bastard.

"Come on, give it back!" I shouted as he fled back into the undergrowth, disappearing from sight. I could hear him laughing at me as he paced. "Stop juking me out!"

_Ooook, _he mimicked, jumping onto a branch above me. _Ooook. _

"Yeah, _juke,_" I said. "That's what your little tricks are."

_Ooook. _He smiled his toothless grin at me. _Ooooka._

"Alright, Juka, bring me my pig." He reached down with his tail and nudged the body of the boar out from the leaves. I brushed it off and picked it up by its tusks when the dragon jumped down and grabbed the back legs of the boar.

I frowned. "Get your own pig."

He pulled at mine. I pulled right back.

You can probably guess where this is going.

He pulled the pig to him, tugging me along with it. I yelped as I was yanked forward, holding onto the pig to keep myself from faceplanting. I regained my balance and pulled it back to me. He dropped the pig and jumped on top of me.

I couldn't help but laugh as he licked all over my face. "Juka, stop!" I said through my fits of laughter, trying to roll away only to be pinned beneath his foot. I curled my feet up and pushed him off of me, scrambling to my feet only to be knocked down again.

I rolled over and reached for his face, scratching his cheeks. He purred, laying down on top of me and shoving his face into my neck, ears twitching this way and that. I rubbed his neck and stared into his impossibly blue eyes.

I hugged his head to me. "You know, you're probably my closest friend now."

His ears flicked up.

"Really. I love Signe, I do, but she isn't the one I'm keeping secrets with, now is she?" I said. He warbled happily, getting off my chest and bouncing around me. I laughed, slinging the boar over my shoulder. He stopped, looking at me with big, sad eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." He whined, nudging my hand. I scratched his chin. "I'll be back, don't worry. After all, you _are _my best friend."

He grinned.

Raids

I stood behind my father as we watched a fleet of ships sailing toward our harbor, unfamiliar sigils flying on the sails.

Behind us were rows of catapults, armed and ready to fire should signs of aggression arise. A smallship was docked and ready to sail out to discover the intentions of these unknown sailors. My father had wanted to sail out himself but instead had been convinced to stay behind in case their intent was harm. Instead, Eret, son of Eret was manning the ship.

Hiccup pursed his lips. "Berk hasn't seen a fleet of more than a dozen ships since Grimmel."

Gobber, the old man he was, conked him on the head with his hook. "Aye, we haven't! No excitement in years! I haven't seen any new faces since this little nutjob was born!" He smacked my brother on the back as he said this. Hiccup sighed and Astrid rolled her eyes.

I felt a hand clasp my shoulder. "You are worrying."

I let out a breath. "We've never seen anything like this."

"Berk has defeated enemies more formidable than this."

"With what? Your army of dragons?" I said spitefully. Perhaps I did know that dragons weren't mere fairytales anymore, but I did know that there hadn't been an attack on Berk since the dragons had left. We were more vulnerable than the older generation had been.

Valka looked down. "I know you don't feel the same way we do about our dragons, but they do not matter in this fight. This is between us and them, whatever their intentions might be."

I focused my eyes on the smallship that was heading out toward the fleet.

We watched in tense silence as the ship slowed and knocked against the side of the larger ship. It was too far out to make out any action, but it didn't take long for our ship to be coming back our way.

My father went down to meet with Eret. I went with him. I was anxious to hear about the mysterious ships.

Eret looked pale as he disembarked the ship. "My chief, I have urgent news. The leader of the fleet refused to hear us out, only telling us to pass on a message or he would set our ship alight."

Hiccup was taken aback. "And the message?"

"Abandon the island or die defending it."

I couldn't help not interjecting. "Did he say why?"

Eret shook his head. "He gave no reasons, but I have my suspicions. The men look half-starved. They have likely been lost of a home for a while now and are looking for new land to claim as theirs."

"Do you think we could take them?" My father asked.

"Doubtful. They may be weak, but I saw their stock. If we took them head on they would blast us to bits."

As I looked between the two men, I couldn't help but feel a sense of hopelessness. Berk hadn't faced a single threat in almost two decades. How could we fend off something so powerful?

Hiccup nodded slowly. "Time limit?"

"He wants a response by the week's end."

"Alright. We'll tell him we're leaving the island."

"What!" I cried. "We can't abandon our home!"

"We won't be," he said. "We can outsmart them. Just give me some time and I'll have a plan ready."

In front of us, Eret nodded. "You'd better. We can't withstand an assault."

"Don't worry," he said, face steeled in determination. "When they come for us, we'll be ready."


	3. We're moving

**NOT AN UPDATE.**

Hello, friends.

This is a message to inform you that I am leaving this account. There will not be any more updates on any stories, nor will I be posting any new ones.

I will still be posting and updating stories on archiveofourown under the name FellowLesbian if you want to keep following me, but the majority of my stories will likely not be finished. I've fallen out of the Percy Jackson fandom, so those stories are done for. Game of Thrones and How to Train Your Dragon I am still a part of, just not as invested in. The only stories that will be updated are my 100 ones.

So if you want to see some clexa fics, keep up with me. If not, well, I'm not sure what else I'll be posting.

If you want to contact me (for whatever reason) do so through a03 or my Tumblr account FellowLesbian.

Thank you to all of my fans on all of my stories. I love you guys.

Cheers.


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